1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to display apparatus and the manufacturing method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to electronic-ink display apparatus and the manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
The active matrix electronic-ink display apparatus conventionally includes a substrate, a common electrode, an electronic-ink layer, and a thin film transistor array substrate. The electronic-ink layer includes plural electronic-ink particles. The electronic-ink particle is a reflective display material having a bi-stable characteristic and using charged particles to provide display. Each charged particle may contain single polarity or both positive and negative polarities. When an image signal is input into the electronic-ink display apparatus, the electric field between the common electrode and the pixel electrode of the TFT array substrate is altered, and the electronic-ink particles are moved, and an image according to the image signal is therefore displayed. The image displayed by the electronic-ink display apparatus can still be retained on the display even after the power supply is removed.
FIG. 1A shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional electronic-ink display apparatus. FIG. 1B shows a vertical view of a thin film transistor array substrate of the electronic-ink display apparatus shown in FIG. 1A. Referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the electronic-ink display apparatus 10 includes a thin film transistor array substrate 20, an electronic-ink layer 30, a common electrode 44, a second substrate 42 and an edge sealant 50. The thin film transistor array substrate 20 includes a first substrate 21, plural scan lines 22, plural data lines 23, plural thin film transistors 24 and plural pixel electrodes 26. Each thin film transistor includes a gate electrode 24a, a semiconductor layer 24b, a source electrode 24c, a drain electrode 24d and a gate insulating layer 27. A dielectric layer 25 covers the scan lines 22, data lines 23 and thin film transistors 24. The dielectric layer 25 includes plural openings H. Each opening exposes part of the thin film transistor 24. The pixel electrodes 26 are located on the dielectric layer 25. Each pixel electrode 26 is electrically connected to each thin film transistor 24 through the opening H. The electronic-ink layer 30, common electrode 44 and second substrate 42 are located above the thin film transistor array substrate 20 in sequence. The edge sealant 50 surrounds the electronic-ink layer 30 and is totally overlaid above the dielectric layer 25.
The electronic-ink display apparatus 10 is conventionally manufactured by following procedures. A front plane laminate (FPL) including the electronic-ink layer 30, common electrode 44 and second substrate 42 is disposed above the thin film transistor array substrate 20 after the thin film transistor array substrate 20 is formed. An edge sealant 50 which can be solidified by electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet (UV) light or visible light is subsequently coated on the side wall of the electronic-ink layer 30. Finally, the edge sealant 50 is irradiated with UV light or visible light to carry out the curing reaction of the edge sealant 50.
A protective sheet 43 slightly larger than the front plane laminate is usually disposed above the front plane laminate and covers the front plane laminate. The material of the protective sheet 43 and the dielectric layer 25 are capable of shielding electromagnetic radiation such as UV light. Therefore, UV light irradiating from the location below the thin film transistor array substrate 20 is shielded by the dielectric layer 25. UV light irradiating from the location above the protective sheet 43 is shielded by the protective sheet 43. The edge sealant 50 only receives UV radiation from the lateral side. Therefore, the edge sealant 50 adjacent to the electronic-ink layer 30 is difficult to be cured, and it requires longer time to fully solidify the edge sealant 50.